THE WORD AND THE SAINT

Living by truth and in love

Celebrating John Paul II - 22nd October, 2016

Eph 4:7-16; Lk 13: 1-9

The downfall of others is not a justification of our selves. The difficulties that we face are not curses we experience. Everything that happens in life has to be seen from the perspective of God, and the holistic plan of God and the obedience or breach of God's will and its consequences. When people struggle and live life in unbearable conditions we are tempted to say that God has taken them to task - is this truly a Christian attitude? 

John Paul II who was a long reigning Pontiff of the Church and a person whom we have seen in our own times, was a great witness against such kind of thinking. Those who have seen the last years of Pope John Paul II, would vouch for the strength of will that this great person possessed. With his Parkinson ailment and his age, he was losing that strong traveller image that he had built up in his tenure for two decades and more. But he did not mind it, he put his trust in the Lord who was leading him and went on with endurance till the end. He never gave up - not just this but even his stand as the conscience of the world - he was firm on living by truth and in love! No one or nothing could stop him from that. That is the challenge to us today: to live by truth and in love in order that we grow into Christ... Are we ready?